Toledo Mud Hens 2, Iowa Cubs 1 (box)
Sawyer-Gipson Long, Beau Brieske, Brenan Hanifee, and Ricky Vanasco combined to dominant Cubs pitching as the Hens took a 2-0 lead in the series with a walkoff victory.
Gipson-Long’s first season back from Tommy John surgery has gone quite badly, but he was on in this one. He hit the first batter of the game, gave up back-to-back singles that scored a run, and from there the right-hander handled the Cubs comfortably.
The Hens got that run right back in the bottom of the first. Jace Jung was in an odd
spot leading off, but he started the inning with a double and scored on a Max Anderson single to tie the game.
Gipson-Long scattered two hits and two walks through the rest of his five innings of work, striking out six. Brieske handled the sixth, allowing just a walk. Hanifee took care of the seventh. Ricky Vanasco got three quick ground outs in the eighth, and he allowed just a Jordan Nwogu single in the top of the ninth.
So it was 1-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Cal Stevenson came up big with a one-out double and took third on a Michael Siani ground out. Bennett Lee stepped to the dish and smashed a single to the wall in center field to walk off the Cubs.
Stevenson: 3-4, R, 2B, K, CS
Jung: 1-3, R, 2B, BB, K
Lee: 2-4, RBI
Gipson-Long: 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday.
Erie SeaWolves 6, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 5 (box)
Carlos Peña ran out of gas late in his start, but the SeaWolves built an early lead and fought off repeated challenges from the Cats to win again on Wednesday.
The SeaWolves started off quickly. Peyton Graham led off the bottom of the first with an infield single and then stole second for his 57th swipe of the season. Woody Hadeen singled him to third, and Zyhir Hope lifted a sacrifice fly to left.
In the second, Andrew Jenkins led off with a triple and scored on a Luke Shliger double for a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Peña was carving through the Fisher Cats until allowing a run in the top of the fifth. His outing finally went sideways in the sixth as he allowed three runs.
So it was now 4-2 Fisher Cats, but Hadeen led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and rode home on Thayron Liranzo’s 14th homer of the season. Jenkins followed him with a double, and Izaac Pacheco singled him in for a 5-4 lead.
Johan Simon coughed up one of Pena’s inherited runners in the sixth, and then gave up two singles and balked in a run in the seventh. But again in the bottom half the SeaWolves answered back. Seth Stephenson led off with a single and then stole his 55th base. Graham smashed a one-hopper over the left center field wall to score him and take a 6-5 lead.
Moises Rodriguez returned to the fold after his rehab work and tossed a 1-2-3 eighth, while Wandisson Charles collected his fourth save.
Graham: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B, SB
Liranzo: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB, SB
Jenkins: 2-4, 2 R, 2B, 3B, K
Pena: 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: The series is tied up heading into a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday.
West Michigan Whitecaps 9, South Bend Cubs 0 (box)
Ben Jacobs was great, and Bryce Rainer set a franchise record by homering for the fifth straight game as the Whitecaps evened up the series.
The left-hander had some struggles moving to the High-A level, but he’s on a roll now. He blanked the Cubs on three hits and two walks, striking out six, over 5.1 innings of work. All he really needs to do is keep refining his command and building himself up, but he’s very much on track to tackle Double-A and perhaps even move quite quickly next season.
The Whitecaps started building a big lead in the second. Clayton Campbell singled with one out and Samuel Gil reached on an error. Stephen Hrustich doubled in Campbell, and Gil scored on a Cristian Santana ground out.
So it was 2-0 heading into the top of the third. Jackson Strong, who has heated up quite a bit since the break, led off with his 14th home run of the season. The 22-year-old is still striking out a lot, but he walks quite a bit, is showing average power already, and plays a pretty good center field for his experience level. Keep an eye on him.
Bryce Rainer followed Strong with a double and later scored on an Edian Espinal single. Campbell then mashed a two-run shot to make it 6-0.
In the fifth, Beau Ankeney walked with one out, took second on another Espinal single, and both scored on a double from Campbell. That made it 8-0, and in the seventh, Rainer led off with a missile to left-center for his 15th home run of the season.
Luke Hoskins, Eliseo Mota, and Ryan Harvey were perfect in relief.
Rainer: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR, 2 K
Campbell: 3-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR
Espinal: 2-5, 2 R, RBI
Jacobs (W, 4-2): 5.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps now hold a 2.5 game lead in the division. The series is tied 1-1 heading into a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 11, St. Lucie Mets 1 (box)
Cameron Flukey was pretty impressive in his short start, and once again the Flying Tigers hammered Mets’ pitching to win easily.
Flukey started things off with two scoreless innings of work. He threw 23 of 42 pitches for strikes, so he certainly wasn’t sharp, but he’s still just getting stretched out again and was working heavily with the fastball. He allowed a hit and a walk, while striking out two on the outing. He sat 94.1 mph with his fourseamer, showing off 19 inches of induced vertical break. He got six whiffs, four on the heater and two on the cutter. Zach MacDonald had a huge game at the plate, but he also robbed a homer on Flukey’s behalf in the first.
Ronald Ramirez led off with a double in the top of the second. Zach MacDonald followed with his 20th home run of the season for a 2-0 lead.
Donye Evans handled the third and fourth innings without giving up a run. In the top of the fifth, Enderson Delgado led off with a single and Javier Osorio followed with a double. They both scored on an Angel De Los Santos double, and he scored on a Jesus Pinto sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.
Paul Wilson took over in the bottom of the fifth. He was still wild, but the gas is in place as he averaged 95.5 mph with his fourseam and sinker, collecting whiffs on all four pitches, including the slider and curveball.
MacDonald hammered a solo shot in the sixth for a two-homer game.
In the seventh, Osorio and Yost singled, and then De Los Santos singled in Osorio. Pinto walked to load the bas1es, and the Mets wild pitched in a run. Nick Dumesnil walked to re-load the bases, and De Los Santos scored on a Jude Warwick ground out. At this point, Mets pitching was a mess and another walk and a ground out made it 10-0. De Los Santos singled and scored on a Dumesnil single in the eighth to make it 11-0.
In the eighth, Wilson finally cracked a bit. He hit the leadoff hitter and then wild pitched him to second base before giving up an RBI single for the Mets only run. Pedro Garcia closed it out from there.
MacDonald: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, BB, K
De Los Santos: 3-6, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2B, SB
Dumesnil: 2-4, RBI, BB, K
Yost: 2-6, R, K
Flukey: 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, BB, 2 K
Wilson: 3.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers have won six of their last seven. They hold a 2-0 lead in the series with first pitch set for 6:10 p.m. ET on Thursday.
